Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating an apparent murder-suicide that happened in Bruceville-Eddy Saturday morning.

Author:
Stephen Adams, Jim Hice, Andrew Moore

Published:
10:49 PM CDT May 20, 2017

Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating an apparent murder-suicide that happened in Bruceville-Eddy Saturday morning.

Authorities were first dispatched to a house on Woodlawn Road near I-35 at roughly 7:15 a.m. Bruceville-Eddy Police Chief Bill McLean said a friend of the family who lived in the house called 911 for help.

When police arrived, they found a man had barricaded himself and his girlfriend inside the home. At that point, the McLennan County Sheriff's Office dispatched its SWAT team, which responded to the scene and attempted to make contact with the boyfriend.

SWAT officers were unable to make contact and eventually sent a robot into the house. The robot found the boyfriend and girlfriend dead inside around 9:45 a.m.

A neighbor said children were inside the home when the standoff began. However, police confirmed everyone besides the boyfriend and girlfriend escaped the home safely.

Police say a man killed a woman in this house before killing himself. There were other people inside at the time but they got out safely pic.twitter.com/vx2HkWcZau

The preliminary investigation suggests the boyfriend shot his girlfriend before turning the gun on himself, according two law enforcement officials.

On Saturday afternoon, McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara identified the gunman as Kevin Thorpe and confirmed the couple had a history of domestic violence. He said Thorpe bonded out of jail around noon Friday on two counts of harassment, one count of malicious mischief and one count of marijuana possession.

The Texas Rangers and McLennan County Sheriff's Office are assisting Bruceville-Eddy Police with the investigation.